50 ‘Saturday Night Live’ Cast Members Talk About What It’s Like to Audition for ‘Saturday Night Live’—And How They Celebrated Getting Hired

Saturday Night Live turns 50 this year. A sketch-comedy moon shot launched by a scruffy band of Canadians and stoners has become a pop-cultural institution—the longest-running scripted show on TV that isn’t a soap opera or Sesame Street. Late last year, to mark this historic anniversary, GQ interviewed over 50 other past and present SNL cast members—from Laraine Newman, Jane Curtin, and Garrett Morris Morris, OGs who were there at the beginning, to newcomers like Ashley Padilla, Jane Wickline, and Emil Wakim, each of whom had been on the show for all of eight weeks when we talked—and asked each of them the same eight questions about the show’s broader cultural footprint and their own experiences making it.

A feature story drawn from those conversations, “Saturday Night Forever,” will appear in the March print edition of GQ—but all this week on GQ.com, we’re bringing you an expanded, Bill Brasky–size version of that story, along with answers that didn’t make it to the page. Today, SNL cast members and ex cast members share their recollections of one of the most intimidating experiences in show business—auditioning for a spot in the cast of one of TV’s most iconic shows.

Chris Parnell, cast member, 1998–06: They put you up there on home base by yourself, which is where the host does the monologue, and they have one camera set up in front of you and you do your little one-person show.

Alex Moffat, cast member, 2016–22: They also make you wait four hours in some random dressing room before you go out there. So I think it’s built to kind of separate the wheat from the chaff.

Andy Samberg, cast member, 2005–12: I remember I auditioned twice. I remember being sure that I wasn’t going to get it but just so happy that I was going to get to actually try. Because it had been my dream for so long and it seemed so out of reach because I hadn’t really gotten engaged with UCB or Groundlings or Second City or any of that. I had been doing some stand-up, and then me and my friends Akiva [Schaffer] and Jorma [Taccone] had been making our own stuff. But it just seemed like not anywhere close to something that was going to happen.

So when I was asked to audition, it just seemed like that was the victory already. I went in pretty loose because of that. Maybe it was self-preservation and I didn’t realize it coming from my subconscious. But I honestly was just like, I’m going to get to stand up there and try, and that’s going to be the greatest moment of my life.

Will Forte, cast member, 2002–10: I didn’t want to do it. I was scared. I had a [writing] job at That ’70s Show at the time, and I used that as an excuse to almost not audition. And then finally they convinced me to go out. And it was like an out-of-body experience. It was so nerve-wracking. I was just a writer, so I had never been on TV before. It was terrifying.

Tracy Morgan, cast member, 1996–2003: I was very nervous. I had a wife and three kids, so I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. And when I went in to audition, I had my wife and my kids on my mind, and that’s all I thought about. If I nail this, if I come off like a fat rat in a cheese factory, I could change my family’s life. That was my whole foundation right there.

Laraine Newman, cast member, 1975–80: I didn’t know I was auditioning. [Lorne Michaels] had come to the Groundlings when we were in our infancy. I was doing about four character monologues, and Lorne cast me in a Lily Tomlin special he was producing. Then he came to the Groundlings again. I was doing new characters and new material. He asked me to meet him at the Chateau Marmont to discuss a new show he was doing. It was SNL.

Tim Kazurinsky, cast member, 1980–84: I was in the ad business until I was 27. I was nervous presenting commercials. So I took an improv class at Second City and I went, My God, this is so much fun. And then a couple of years later, they offered me a job there for an 80% pay cut, and I thought, Oh, I’d be nuts to pass this up. Harold Ramis, Brian Doyle-Murray, it was an amazing cast, and I never forgot it. I knew all those guys—Billy Murray. But I actually never auditioned for Second City. And I didn’t do an audition for Saturday Night Live. Dick Ebersol told me that Belushi just said, Go to Chicago, look at this guy, Tim Kazurinsky. He’d be a good den mother for a new cast.

Jim Belushi, cast member, 1983–85: I didn’t audition. [NBC president] Brandon Tartikoff saw me do a Second City show and called Dick Ebersol and said, “You should put Belushi on the show.” And then that was it. And then everybody told me not to do it. That I would get killed, because it was only a couple of years after John died. I said, “I’m a Second City actor. These Second City actors created this with Lorne—this magical combination of sketch and TV. It’s a natural progression for me. I’m a fan. I want to be on the show. So, fuck it, I’m going to do it. I don’t care if they kill me.”

Kevin Nealon, cast member, 1986–95: I was sharing a house with Dana Carvey and a couple other comics, and Dana was just kind of staying in the studio apartment above the garage when he was in town—he lived in San Francisco. So we would often stand in the driveway and kind of riff on different characters we were making up.

And then he got selected to be on SNL that summer for the upcoming fall, and I was really excited for him because he does all these characters and sketches and he should be on that show. So off he goes.

And I don’t know, maybe three weeks later I get a call from him. He said, “Kev, I’m out at Lorne Michaels’s house in Amagansett. I’m in the back bedroom. Guess who’s in the kitchen? Bill Murray."

I said, “No way."

He goes, “Yeah.” He said, “Anyway, they’re looking for one more cast member and I think Lorne wanted someone like a Chevy Chase type. So I told him about you and he’s going to want to see your audition tapes.” And I said, “Bill Murray’s in the kitchen?"

I wasn’t buying into that because I knew I’d never get on there, because I don’t do sketches. I’m just a stand-up—a really, really good stand-up. And so I sent my audition tape in not thinking anything’s going to come from it. And then Dana calls me, I don’t know, two weeks later: “Kev, good news, Lorne liked your tape. I think they’re going to fly you in for an audition. Guess who’s in the kitchen? Steve Martin."

I said, “Steve Martin’s in the kitchen?”

I found out that I got the show and then Lorne said, “Come to Long Island.” So then I lived with Lorne for a month out on Long Island.

Dana Carvey, cast member, 1986–93: I was just living in Lorne’s house and he said, “You can have Jack’s room.” That’s where Jack Nicholson would normally stay. And then Paul McCartney came over every night for a week with Linda, and that’s a whole other thing. It’ll be in my book.

Nealon: I figured I’d fly in there with a free trip to New York at least, and I go to 30 Rock and I take the elevator up to Studio 8H. And I kind of remembered doing my audition on the floor near the bleachers, and it was Dennis [Miller], Jon Lovitz, Nora Dunn, Dana, maybe the head writer, Jim Downey.

I really don’t remember too much of the audition. I think I just did stand-up, [like] what I was doing on The Tonight Show and stuff. And then I did a couple of the characters that Dana and I kind of riffed on in the driveway. One of them was we were both porno stars and we were each in the director’s chair with our makeup artist fluffing us. And we were just having a normal conversation as they worked on us down there. And every once in a while we’d stop the conversation and go, “That’s right, Trudy. A little pinstripes on the side for the people, give ’em a little sparkle for the people.” Everything was “for the people.”

I did those, I think, and then that was it. But I think it was more the chemistry than anything else. The year before had not been a good year; I don’t think there was the chemistry there, or the synergy between the writers and the cast. I think Lorne saw that chemistry because he knew Dana and I were friends and I knew Dennis [Miller], and ultimately Jan Hooks was hired, and she was my girlfriend. We all meshed. Until I broke up with Jan.

Chris Rock, cast member, 1990–93: I remember I saw Dana Gould [at the audition]. He didn’t end up getting the show and I’ll never know why.

Sasheer Zamata, cast member, 2014–17: I remember hearing Leslie Jones [auditioning] before me and destroying, because she’s hilarious.

Ellen Cleghorne, cast member, 1991–95: The casting lady told me, “Don’t be strident,” and I had no idea what that word meant. We didn’t have Google back in those days, so I had to actually go get a dictionary and look it up.

There was this thing that I did where I played a young child who was having a tantrum, so I decided not to do that character. She was strident. Maybe that’s why I got the job.

Bobby Moynihan, cast member, 2008–17: My first audition was in the actual studio. And when they walked me in, I remember just going, “Oh my God, I’m walking…. When they go into the studio for the monologue, and they go through, this is where the cue cards are, and this is where they have all the paint to paint the sets.” And I was like, I can’t believe I’m here. It was like I was a fan on a tour and then I went, Oh yeah, here’s a couple of characters I could do. Okay—now can I look at the studio some more?

Tim Robinson, cast member, 2012–13; writer, 2013–16: You’re like stepping into the Simpsons’ house for real or whatever. You’re like, “Holy shit.”

Devon Walker, cast member, 2022–present: I remember being so nervous that I couldn’t even listen to music in my apartment. I was pacing around back and forth in my apartment. And then I took the train into the city and I ended up sitting there. They had me get there at maybe three or four, and I was just in a dressing room for five hours, just waiting and thinking.

And I ended up finding Chloe Troast, who was in the dressing room that would become my dressing room, and me and her just kind of posted up. We played some music and just kind of kept each other company. And [SNL writer-producer] Steve Higgins ended up walking by.

Higgins took me and Chloe and just walked us around into the studio, where they do the auditions, and he was like, “Hey, it’s just a room. It’s just a room with a stage. You guys have done this before. You’ve done it a thousand times. Now you’re auditioning for a job, but it’s no different. Just approach it like you’ve approached all these other stages. You’re already here, so you’re good enough to get here, so why not go get the job?” He kind of took down the mystique. Like, “Yeah, you know how to do this. Just go do it.” And that took off a lot of the pressure.

Michael Che, writer, 2013–present; cast member, 2014–present: I came in as a writer first. Then I moved up to Update, but we did a test, which was sort of like an audition. I don’t call it that because it wasn’t the same thing. But yeah, it was still on home base, and it was still in front of Lorne and the producers, and I don’t think I’ve ever been more nervous in a show business setting in my life. It’s a whole other animal because as a performer you’re [used to] listening to the audience and going off of the energy of the crowd and it’s sort of a dialogue. This is just sort of a monologue into the darkness and your boss is watching. It’s like a nightmare.

Darrell Hammond, cast member, 1995–2009; announcer, 2014–present: There’s no sound. It’s just this very, very famous man in this very, very famous place and you’re doing your funniest, best stuff and he’s not responding. What I do remember walking away from it was that I didn’t choke. And it was incredibly important to me because when I first walked in there, I thought I would just turn around and walk right back out. It was too scary. The Stones played to my left. And [Lorne]’s sitting there, and he could not be more unengaged. The fact is, he’s incredibly engaged. He’s studying. But I was like, Can there be some laughs? Nope.

Vanessa Bayer, cast member, 2010–17: Everyone had told me it’s really hard to get laughs. Like, Don’t worry if you don’t get any laughs or whatever. And then I remember doing my first character and getting laughs. I remember I was really blown away by that. I was like, Oh my God, I can’t believe they’re laughing. I heard they never laugh.

Parnell: I actually did get a little laughter. I got some chuckles from the darkness out there, whoever was watching.

Chloe Fineman, cast member, 2019–present: I remember the only thing Lorne laughed at was a weird impression I did of Greta Gerwig.

Walker: Everybody tells you that nobody’s going to laugh. And I remember going in there and the first joke that I did got a laugh, and after that I was like, “Okay, I think I’m going to be all right.”

Bill Hader, cast member, 2005–13: I remember being nervous, but then Tina Fey laughed. I started doing the Vinny Vedecci voice, and she started laughing and then I relaxed.

Bill Hader as Vinny Vedecci, with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 2007NBC/Getty Images

Jay Pharoah, cast member, 2010–16: I remember me and my girlfriend breaking up two days before the audition. It was crazy. I was like, I’m going to show you. Honestly, if that wouldn’t have happened, who knows? Maybe I would still be working at Burlington Coat Factory, I don’t know.

Molly Shannon, cast member, 1995–2001: I got asked to fly to New York and meet with Lorne, and I was so excited. So I remember that night, I celebrated with my sister and my brother-in-law and we had a glass of wine and then I left her apartment, and I was so excited I’d just met Lorne. And then I got mugged in Tribeca—slammed down on the sidewalk by a guy who took my wallet—but I was so excited that I just met Lorne that it didn’t really bother me. Nothing was gonna get me down, you know?

Tim Kazurinsky, cast member, 1980–84: Oh Christ. I was nuts. I just drove home in my Volkswagen Beetle. I grew up in Australia, and so I couldn’t even call there and tell my family because the show didn’t run in Australia back then. So I just screamed out the window driving my little black 1959 Volkswagen Beetle up [Chicago’s] Lakeshore Drive on my way home and called a couple of pals and we went out and had beers.

Jay Mohr, cast member, 1993–95: My manager owned a comedy club in Greenwich Village. The auditions were there, and I went on third. And the air conditioning was out, and everybody from Saturday Night Live left after the fourth guy. So if I’d had any other spot on the roster, who knows what would’ve happened?

And then my second audition, I think, was either the very next night or the night after that at Stand-Up New York—which was definitely an away game for me. Because it’s just a very sterile rectangle room. It’s very bright. It’s 77th and Broadway. I just didn’t take it very seriously. The odds are less than zero that this is going to happen for you. So just relax and get up there and have fun. I went to the gym, and I went directly from the gym. I took the subway up to the gig. I was wearing sweatpants and a Chapman Girls’ Lacrosse T-shirt. Everybody was dressed in their good comedy shirts and their fancy pants, and they all had their hair slicked like 90210-ish. And I was just some guy that got off a weight bench, and I just went up there with an Amstel Light and let fly.

I thought [the SNL producers] were sitting in the back left-hand corner of the room, so after every story or impression I did I stared into the back left corner. Because I wanted them to know I wasn’t afraid of them. And then when I walked offstage to the right, I passed them. So I was staring at the wrong corner. My whole audition I’d just stared down an investment banker from Patchogue, Long Island.

I had a gig the next day at Catawba College in Catawba, North Carolina. I was with Anthony Clark. We were staying, literally, at a Motel 6. It was something out of a Steinbeck novel. It was just a highway and fields and this motel. And Anthony Clark was cleaning the pool with that long skinny net. And I said, “I’m going to go take a nap.” And then I got a call in my Motel 6 room from my agent and my manager, and I thought immediately that my parents had died. And they told me I’d got it. And I said, “Let me call you guys back.” I hung up the phone, I went back down to the pool. I said, “Tony, I just got Saturday Night Live.” And without looking up from the net, he goes, “Well, there goes that nap.”

But I got introduced that night onstage at the college, as “He’s the newest cast member of Saturday Night Live…” And everything was different. Every show from that moment forward. It was like getting your diploma.

Finesse Mitchell, cast member, 2003–06: Tracy Morgan and Dean Edwards were leaving the show, and they were sort of looking for the new Black guys. And so they did this massive search, and Kenan Thompson and I ended up joining the cast that year, in 2003.

Their final four or five people were all living in the L.A. area. So Lorne Michaels and those guys came out to the Laugh Factory, and that was my home club at the time. Kenan Thompson [who auditioned that same night] came on my podcast, and he said to me, “Finesse, I don't know if you remember this, but I was so nervous that I was in the bathroom drinking faucet water, literally putting my mouth to that nasty faucet, not realizing that there was a bar that I could have just walked to and asked for some water.” He said, “My mouth was so dry, I just went in the bathroom and I started drinking faucet water.”

And then later that night, they called me and they said, Hey, you got the job. We'll see you at work on Monday. And I'll never forget being in the airport, it was a redeye, and Kenan Thompson walked up to me and he said, Hey, man, you got it. Congratulations. I'm on my way to New York [too.] And I looked at him, I said, Oh, shit, you got it. I'm on my way home to Atlanta. I'm just here. And he was like, Oh, my bad. I was like, I'm fucking with you, dude. I got it too. And he was like, Man, don't kill me like that. So that was us, man. On our way. Two Atlanta boys on our way to New York City. 2003.

Tim Meadows, cast member, 1991–2000: I didn’t audition for the show. Lorne came to see me in Second City, and then the producers came out and saw me in Second City, and I had done two different revues during that period. Then Lorne brought me in for a meeting. I went up to his office after waiting, like, 10 hours, and then he talked to me for a few minutes, and then he brought in the cast of the first “Five-Timers Club” sketch while I was sitting in his office.

I was just an actor from Chicago. And then all of these people start walking in: Steve Martin, Paul Simon, Ralph Nader. Conan [O’Brien] was in that room. And Lorne said, “Tim, could you read one part?” or whatever. I read the sketch with them, and I think that was my audition. I think Lorne just wanted to see if I could handle being around celebrities, and not go, “Oh my God, it’s Steve Martin.” I was very cool about it. But then later when I got home: “I can’t believe I was in the same room with Steve Martin.”

Cleghorne: I was an actress. I was doing stand-up comedy [in New York]. I had actually been on In Living Color a couple of times. And they called me back and asked me to audition to be a cast member. I auditioned with Jamie Foxx and a whole bunch of other people, and the people that they cast that year was Jamie Foxx and one other person. And I was waiting for them to tell me if I got it or not. I did not get it, but that same week, what I did get was SNL.

That’s why I believe in God, you know? And then I didn’t have to move.

Rob Riggle, cast member, 2004–05: It’s very presidential. I was standing in line to get food for my wife and my daughter and myself, and I was just waiting in line at some deli in New York, right by my apartment. And I get a call and somebody goes, “Is this Robert?” I said yes. “Please stand by for a call from Lorne Michaels.” It’s almost like, “Please stand by for a call from the president.” I was like, Holy shit.

Moynihan: I got a call one night late, it was 6 p.m., from my agents, saying that Bernie Brillstein had passed away, Lorne’s agent, and I obviously knew him just from SNL lore, and all that stuff, so I was very upset. And they were like, “You’re probably not going to hear anything for a little while.” And it was kind of nice, because I just relaxed and went, “Oh, I can just go to bed.” And I’m not a big drinker. I bought a $6 bottle of wine, I sat down, I watched Lost, I got hammered—which I never do—and I woke up the next day at 1 p.m. to the phone ringing, and it was Lorne. And I went, “Hello?” And he was like, [Lorne Michaels voice] “Mr. Moynihan.” And I said, “Lorne?” he said, “Yeah, you know, I just wanted to say you did a fantastic…” I don’t even remember what he said.

All I remember him saying was something along the lines of, I think he said, “I think people in America are really going to enjoy what you have to give them.” And I went, “I think I just got the job? If not, I just got a hell of a compliment.” I think I said, “Well, you made my day.” And he said, “Well, you sound tired. I’ll let you go.” And I was like, “Did I just get hired and then immediately fired?” And had no idea what happened. Sat in bed for five minutes going, “What just happened?” And then I got a text from Seth [Meyers] saying, “Congratulations.” And I went, “Oh my God, it’s okay now. Okay. It was real.” And I got up in my boxer shorts and T-shirt and I ran across the street to the Town Hall where my mother works. I screamed, “I got it!” I hugged her and then I went and I sat on a bench outside the Town Hall and just wept.

Riggle: [Lorne] goes, “Well, just come to 30 Rock tomorrow and there’ll be a pass waiting for you.” And that was it. And it happened, and I remember I had stepped out of line when the call came and I almost wanted to run home, but I realized I got to get dinner, so I had to get back in line and wait to get the food and then run home.

Parnell: When I found out, I think I was living in Studio City [in LA] at the time and I got a page on my pager. This was back in ’98. And I was there on Ventura Boulevard and went to the pay phone and called my agents at the time and they told me the good news. And then I went up the escalator to California Pizza Kitchen for a little celebratory pizza. But it was hard for me to just be like, “Woo-hoo! Oh yeah, I got it!” It was more like, “Oh, yes—and oh shit, because this is the opportunity of a lifetime and I have it now, and dear God, don’t fuck it up.”

Heidi Gardner, cast member, 2017–present: I completely blacked out. I don’t remember. But, I auditioned twice within, like, 10 days, and when I got the call from Lorne, he told me, like, you know, we’re not gonna announce it just yet. And it’s me in my car by myself with this, like, secret, being like, Did that even happen? Is it real? And you can’t tell anyone so I went and I just bought a purse. It wasn’t like any sort of Birkin. It was Clare Vivier, just a really pretty brown tote bag.

Hader: When I found out I got the show, Marci Klein called me. She was talking about something else, and I went, “So….” Then she went, “Wait, you know you got the show, right?” I go, “No, I didn’t know I had the show.” She goes, “Oh, you got the show. So you’re flying tomorrow, to New York, with a guy named Andy Samberg. He’s not hired yet, so don’t tell him that he’s hired.” Immediately, it was weird. Like, “You got it. This other guy—I think we’re going to hire him, but we don’t know, so don’t tell him.

Samberg: I was told, “Hey, you should have a meeting with Lorne now.” ’Cause I had auditioned twice. And Bill told me years later, ’cause we sat next to each other on the plane. They were like, “We’re flying Andy and Bill out to meet with Lorne.” And I was like, “Oh, well maybe I’m in the mix.” And Bill had already been told we both got hired, and we were flying out there to be told we were hired.

And bless his heart, the whole flight—I was like, “I wonder what’s going to happen?” And he was like, “Oh shit. He doesn’t know.” He could tell immediately. But instead of being like, “I’m going to tell him he got hired,” Bill very, very sweetly let me wait all the way until getting there and having the meeting.”

Hader: He’s like, “Do you think we both got it, or is it between us? Why would they fly us both out?” And in my head, I’m like, “We both got it. I’m not allowed to tell you.” It was very strange, but it was very SNL. You leave the same way. It’s like, “All right, that’s it.” Like, “All right, well—bye.” There’s no party thrown or whatever. Or you have to make your own party, which I think pisses them off.

Samberg: Ironically, I still didn’t know if I had gotten it after I left the meeting with Lorne. They had to tell me outside of his office ’cause he’s so vague about things. Lorne said, “Do you think you could do this?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “Do you think you could live in New York?” I said, “Yes, I’ve lived here before for a few years and I love it.” He said, “Would you be willing to cut your hair?” I said, “I’ll shave my head if you want me to.” He said, “That won’t be necessary.” And then he said, “All right, well, we’re going to go out to dinner after this, so you should come.” And I realized a year later that that was how he was saying that I was hired.

Cheri Oteri, cast member, 1995–2000: Will [Ferrell] and I were called in. I went first. I remember buying a dress to go that I really couldn’t afford. This pink dress. I went in; he said, “We want you to come to New York.” But he never said, You got the job.

Cecily Strong, cast member, 2012–22: You can’t quite tell what news Lorne is giving you sometimes.

Oteri: And then when I was finished, Will went in and I waited for him and we got out and we walked very calmly to the parking lot holding hands. And then we just screamed by the time we got in the parking lot.

Ego Nwodim, cast member, 2018–present: He just always has a witty, clever way of telling you that you’re hired. And he said to me, “So, the problem you’re having in LA…”—which was that I didn’t know where I was going to live and I was in between apartments. He was like, “You’re going to have that same problem now, but just in New York.”

And I remember moving a day and a half later, no joke. And then the season started maybe two days after that. I celebrated by moving. I celebrated on United Airlines with a glass of Champagne. That was the extent of the celebration.

Chris Kattan, cast member, 1996–2003: I didn’t have enough time to celebrate. They hired me six shows before the end of the season, and so I think I just screamed and jumped up and down with my dad. That was my celebration. And I just made a lot of phone calls.

Cleghorne: I learned about it on the day that I was supposed to go to work. “You got the job, so you have to be here at seven.” That was it. That was the week. That was the start of the week. Six days. So, Monday, they told me, and Saturday we had the show. And when I went to work, I met Michael Jordan. Yeah, it was otherworldly.

Nealon: It happened so quickly. They needed me in New York on Monday, I think, and I think they told me on Friday. I didn’t really have a chance to tell too many people. This was before social media. This was also before the light bulb. And so, I packed up.

Kenan Thompson, cast member, 2003–present: I celebrated by buying a plane ticket to New York the very next day. I think I got the call on a Saturday, and I had to be at work on Monday.

Michaela Watkins, cast member, 2008–09: I didn’t get to celebrate. That was the real rub, because we were taping New Adventures of Old Christine and I had to be there for the taping and my phone kept dying while Lorne Michaels was calling me. I kept having to go out and I couldn’t plug my phone in anywhere on the stage. Isn’t that weird? Not a single outlet. Plus, I was working. Every time I went back to my phone, I had just missed a call. So I would call him, but he wasn’t available. And this was going all night. And that’s what I mean, I found out at 9 or 10 at night, and then I told Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She’s like, “We’re getting a drink.” I was like, “I have to move to New York in three hours, and I have two cats.” But you don’t not get a drink with Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

And I mean, I literally didn’t get to tell anybody. I was trying to pack, trying to deliver my cats to my ex-boyfriend’s house. And then I got on a plane and got to New York without any sleep. I just wanted to die [or] cry but also was so happy. And then I sent an email to my good friends. It was just too weird.

I didn’t feel like I got that moment where I got to look for an apartment, where I got to have an SNL summer. We hit the ground running. And that was the one sad thing, because before I knew it, I was fired. By the following summer I was fired. So then I was mourning it. I had plenty of time to mourn it.

Mitchell: I just remember not necessarily having an orientation. They called me and said, Hey, you got the job. We’ll see you at work on Monday. We flew out on a Sunday. I just remember me, JB Smoove, and Kenan Thompson just being the new guys. They brought JB in as a writer, and we just learned as we went. You go in and you’re sitting in Lorne Michaels’s office, and he’s like, Welcome to SNL. And the host was sitting there. There was no Come on in, here’s your locker. Nope. It was like, Show up on Monday. It’s the first week of the season. The host is Jack Black. Everybody say hello to Jack. And I’m like, Oh shit. This is the first day of school, and I didn’t have a place to live. I was staying at a hotel.

Finesse Mitchell and Kenan Thompson, 2005NBC/Getty Images

David Spade, cast member, 1990–96: When they said, “You’re going to be a writer-performer,” the writing part terrified me. I didn’t know how to write a sketch at all. I was handed a sharp pencil and they said, “See you at read-through.” And I’m like, “Do I write the title of the sketch in big letters?” I didn’t know anything.

My first sketch was probably 18 pages, and they were like, “What are you doing?” I’m like, “I don’t have a teacher. Is that too long? Is it too short? I know literally nothing.” So I had to go pick brains and everyone’s so busy and you’re essentially competition. So if you die in the vine and quit, nobody really cares because they’re just focused on their own stuff. It’s like being on Survivor and when someone gets the boot, you’re like, “I liked them, but that’s okay. There’s more rice for me.”

Moynihan: SNL in a nutshell is like, you’re just supposed to act like you’re already Will Ferrell. [Like] you’re already famous…. It’s just, like, one minute you’re trying to be on SNL, and then the next minute, second, Lorne’s going, “Why aren’t you acting exactly like Jimmy Fallon?” It’s insane. Very much just like, “Well, you’re in the room now where it happened, so act like it.” And you’re like, “I don’t know how!”

Sarah Silverman, cast member and writer, 1993–94: I just remember always thinking, “I can’t believe these are grown-ups,” because I still felt like a kid. I was 22 and from New Hampshire. I just couldn’t believe that complete grown-ups could act this way. But it was kind of part of it then. I can’t imagine it is now. But it was really wild. It was interesting. It was an incredible experience in that way as well. But I also just loved getting laughs in the room. If I could get a laugh on rewrites, I was so happy. It was so exciting. I think that’s probably why I liked punch-up best, because it was fun to pitch stuff and get laughs, actual laughs.

My sketches were not received as well. My guess is they were really not strong. I don’t think I was ahead of my time. I’m sure that’s the case for Larry David. But if I’m being honest, I just think I had not fully formed yet. I think coming out of that and going back into stand-up and just going back to square one was what really took me to where I was meant to be. But that experience was so important.

Janeane Garofalo, cast member, 1994–95: This is unusual. My recollection is I didn’t audition the second time. The second time, when I was 29, was just an offer. The first time, I have a recollection, at the age of 24 or 25, [of] me just doing stand-up. That was an audition for a writing position, I believe. And then a few years later, [after] I had been on The Ben Stiller Show, The Larry Sanders Show, done Reality Bites, for whatever reason—I still, to this day, don’t know why—I was offered a place on SNL. There’s far more deserving people, and I don’t know why it was just an offer that time.

If you’re asking how I celebrated, it would be how I was doing everything back then. I enjoyed a cocktail a great deal. Do you know what I’m saying? I don’t drink anymore, put it that way. I’ve been sober since 2001 and I’m not making light of it. It was just New York. It was so exciting.

I was probably tipsy when I got the offer. Again, that’s not pride, I’m just telling you. It was late at night when I got the offer. I, of course, took advantage of It’s going to be a while and went down to a bar down at the bottom of the building.

James Austin Johnson, cast member, 2021–present: If I had gotten the job in my 20s, I would’ve celebrated all crazy. Instead, I was just sort of doing the big life spreadsheet in my head, and I’ve kind of never stopped doing that spreadsheet in my head. But I will say when I got home, my wife had a cookie cake for me that said SNL BIG BOY on it. And she had gotten a Pikachu balloon from the drugstore. So we had some cookie cake. A dry-ass cookie cake.

Andrew Dismukes, writer, 2017–20; cast member, 2020–present: I was delivering Postmates, and I was dropping off somebody’s sushi at their house, and I got a phone call from one of the producers at the show, telling me I got hired as a writer. I just dropped off this guy’s sushi and clocked out of the app and went home and didn’t do Postmates anymore. So, yeah. I celebrated by giving another person sushi.

As told to Brittany Loggins, Gabriella Paiella, Alex Pappademas and Zinya Salfiti

SNL50: The Anniversary Special airs at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Sunday, Feb. 16, on NBC and Peacock.

To read all of GQ’s coverage of Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary, click here.